Lama Tsoling (Rise of the Snow Lion)
Scenario: Rise of the Snow Lion See also: Former New Territories and Republic of Hong Kong Lama Tsoling (Tibetan: བླ་མའི་མཚོ་གླིང་ bla ma'i mtsho gling, Mongolian: Ламын Арал lamyn aral, Cantonese: 喇嘛島), formerly known as Lamma Island (Cantonese: 南丫島), is an island off the coast of Hong Kong. It is a de jure sovereign territory of the Republic of Hong Kong which has been under the administration of the Buddhist Republic of Tibeto-Mongolia since 2085. History Origins as a refugee camp The Tibetan community of Lama Tsoling traces its origins back to the early 2040s, when Tibetan refugees fleeing escalating unrest and oppression under Chinese occupation found a safe haven in Hong Kong, which had become a de facto independent state following the Hong Kong War of Independence, and at that time was the only democratic nation in continental East Asia. Following the dissolution of India in 2038, the government of its successor state the Republic of Hindustan banned further Tibetan immigration and closed the remaining Tibetan settlements in Dharamsala and Mundgod. The Central Tibetan Administration was forced to relocate to new headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Tibetan refugees thus had to take a much more perilous road to safety, transversing much of mainland China before arriving in Hong Kong, where they were warmly welcomed. A refugee camp was established by the Hong Kong government on Lamma Island, which served as a temporary transit point for the majority of the refugees travelling onwards to Switzerland. However, due to concerns of overcrowding, Swiss authorities restricted the number of visas granted to Tibetan refugees, and as a result many of them had no choice but to remain in Hong Kong. The refugee camp soon grew into a thriving Tibetan community with a population of 6,000 in 2047. Due to the phonetic similarity of the island's Cantonese name with the Tibetan word lama meaning guru or religious teacher, the island became unofficially known as Lama Tsoling (tsoling meaning island). Most of the island's indigenous Cantonese-speaking population were relocated voluntarily to public housing estates in the nearby town of Aberdeen. To provide for the spiritual needs of the refugees, the Jampa Monastery (Tibetan: བྱམས་པ་དགོན་, Cantonese: 強巴寺) was constructed on the island with donations from the Dalai Lama Foundation. The main temple contains an image of Maitreya, the future Buddha, who represents the quality of loving-kindness, as well as the bright future of the Tibetan people. At the time of construction, it was the only Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Hong Kong and the largest in East Asia. Military facility Following the independence of Tibet in 2075 and the subsequent merger with Mongolia two years later, most of the refugees were repatriated to Tibet. A minority, however, especially second-generation Tibetans who had been born in Hong Kong and had hence acquired citizenship, chose to remain due to the better economic conditions there. Although much reduced, Lama Tsoling maintained a sizeable Tibetan community and remained a center of Tibetan culture and religion in Hong Kong. After the Hong Kong-Vietnamese War of 2079, there were continual fears of a future invasion from the north. Although Hong Kong had successfully repulsed the Vietnamese army, its military was small and still in its formative stage, and hence could not defend itself in case of an air or naval invasion. As a result, a military alliance was formed with the Buddhist Republic of Tibeto-Mongolia in 2082. A lease agreement was signed between the two nations in 2085, in which the Hong Kong government pledged to lease the island of Lama Tsoling to Tibeto-Mongolia for an initial period of 100 years, renewable indefinitely, for the purpose of developing an air force and naval facility to defend Hong Kong from foreign invasion as well as to protect Tibeto-Mongolian interests in the region. The Lama Tsoling Garrison of the Vajra Dharma Protection Army of the Tibeto-Mongolian Nation (Tibetan: བོད་སོག་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཆོས་སྐྱོང་དམགས་མི་, Cantonese: 藏蒙金剛護法軍), also known as Dorje Chökyong, was stationed at the newly established facility. It consisted of 6,000 active personnel, mostly of Tibetan ethnicity. As of 14 October, 2117, the Commander-in-Chief of the garrison is Gen Lt Tenzin Gyaltsen, who also serves as the Governor of Lama Tsoling. Second wave of immigration Due to its status as a military facility, Lama Tsoling remained a restricted area for much of the 2080s and early 2090s, with very limited contact with the Hong Kong mainland. This policy was relaxed in 2094 when the families and relatives of serving military personnel were allowed to move to Lama Tsoling. During this time, the civilian population increased rapidly from only 700 in 2091 to over 10,000 in 2097. The main settlement of Ngönchu (Tibetan: སྔོན་ཆུ་ sngon chu "azure waters", Cantonese: 銀珠) was granted city status. Demographics The vast majority (97%) of the local population are Tibetans, mostly hailing from the province of Ü Tsang in Central Tibet. There is a small minority of Mongols (1%), numbering around 1,000. The remaining 2% comprise of Sinitic-speaking peoples including Cantonese, Tanka and Hakka, who were the indigenous inhabitants of the island. The official languages of the Buddhist Republic of Tibeto-Mongolia at the national level are Tibetan and Mongolian. However, as with other Tibetan-majority regions in the Republic, Lhasa Tibetan is the sole language used in administration and government services. Cantonese, the lingua franca of the Republic of Hong Kong, is also widely spoken as a second language by 35% of the population, particularly by traders and those in the tourism and retail sectors. Transport The military airstrip at the north end of the island was converted to dual civilian-military use in 2095 and was renamed the Lama Tsoling Guru Rinpoche Airport '(Tibetan: བླ་མའི་མཚོ་གླིང་གུ་རུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་གནམ་གྲུ་ཐང་, Cantonese: 喇嘛島蓮師機場), in honour of Padmasambhava, the eighth-century Indian sage credited with bringing Tantric Buddhism to Tibet. Daily direct flights link the island to the major Tibetan cities of '''Dartsedo '(formerly Kangding), '''Nyingchi, Chamdo and Lhasa. Currently, it provides domestic services only, and passengers travelling abroad must use the nearby Hong Kong Azureland International Airport. There is a regular ferry service from Ngönchu to Victoria City on Hong Kong Island. The journey time is around 30 minutes. Hong Kong citizens are allowed to visit the island for up to 3 days without a visa. Category:Islands Category:Rise of the Snow Lion